"Conspiracy of Mediocrity"

Looking around for someone to fill the state price-control jobs (at about $10,000 a year), the Democratic National Committee came to a typical solution: Why not hand them over to jobless and deserving Democratic politicians? In that way, the Administration inherited Melvin Ernest Thompson, who was Georgia's acting governor between the reigns of Gene Talmadge and his son, Herman.

The trouble was that Herman Talmadge would not have Thompson as Georgia's price boss; the Administration could have found that out by asking him before Thompson ever came to Washington. But Thompson was already in the capital, so he was shunted from job to useless job. He complained to Harry Truman, who promised to look into it, but still the farce went on. Last week he packed his bag and left Washington with a loud blast:

"For twelve weeks I have been carried on the payroll as a consultant at a salary plus expense account of $53.48 per day. Yet, during this time, I have been consulted about nothing."

The Administration, added Thompson, "is drifting in a sea of confusion, inefficiency, waste and extravagance . . . The American people are being victimized by a national conspiracy of mediocrity."

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